Best known for his contributions to early computers, Caldwell was an American electrical engineer who completed his degrees in electrical engineering at MIT. His M.Sc. thesis was entitled Electrical Characteristics and Theory of Operation of a Dry Electrolytic Rectifier (1926). In his doctoral studies he worked on analog computers with Vannevar Bush, developing the Differential Analyzer. His Ph.D., advised by Bush, was entitled The Extension and Application of Differential Analyzer Technique in the Solution of Ordinary Differential Equations (1933).
Caldwell then joined the faculty of the electrical engineering department. During World War II he served on the National Defense Research Committee. After the war, he led the MIT Center of Analysis, where he reluctantly gave way to digital computing by initiating the Rockefeller Electronic Computer (RED) and supporting Project Whirlwind.
The center closed around 1950, after which Caldwell continued as a faculty member. He went on to serve as doctoral advisor to both David Huffman (1953) and Edward J. McCluskey (1956).
